newsletter September 2020
A NEW PROJECT, A FRESH START? Text: Mats Schiøtz Photo: Mia Elisenberg
In the middle of March, because of COVID-19, Revolve NTNU lost access to its offices and the workshop. When this happened, it was no longer possible to finish the car team 2020 had spent the last six months working on. Team 2020 had to begin working from home, and for a long time our goal was to test systems on our R19 car. When we lost access to our workspaces we immediately started working on possible concepts for team 2021. When we realized that a typical test season was no longer possible in the middle of June, the R21 work intensified. Simultaneously as we started working on concepts, the new board started planning the entire year on an organizational level. In late April/ early May, we had a fully digital group leader admission. This was a whole new experience and forced us to think outside the box. I’m glad to say that the group leader admission went great, and that we have gotten some fantastic group leaders for this year! From here, we started to plan for the main
admission in August and prepared ourselves for welcoming the new team. On August 13th, we finally got back into our offices and workshop. Even though we had less capacity at our offices, Revolve could finally start working as hard and dedicated as always in our favorite place. I must say, and I believe this goes for the entire team, that it was a pretty good feeling sitting at the office for the first time and talking with my colleagues in person again. After getting access we could also start getting our EV car, Nova, and our DV car, Atmos, ready for Autumn testing. After hard work from the new members and help from old team 2020 members, we have already gotten some good test days with Nova, and DV testing is right around the corner. Never in Revolve’s history has a project started as weird as it has been since the planning began in March. We have had endless challenges and new problems to tackle, but what has impressed me is that no one has given up. When it got tough,
we started working even harder than before and ensured we would have the best possible start to the year with our new members. I believe this summarizes Revolve quite well; when things get tough we only work harder, because no one can stop us from pushing the limits and making that car go faster! I’m proud of how the team has handled this challenging situation, and firmly believe that this will be our best year yet!
AUTUMN TESTING Text: Marius von Hafenbrädl Photo: Adrian Leirvik Larsen
The goal of autumn testing is to test concepts and ideas developed in the project year 2020 and during the summer, as well as validating physical models and load cases used in design. Since we unfortunately did not have the opportunity to produce a new race car this year, nor compete during the summer, we have spent the time developing concepts for next year’s vehicle. Spending the summer for this purpose, we already have ideas for improvements for next year’s solutions that we are eager to test. After a week and a half of getting our 2019 car, Nova, up and running, both electrically and mechanically, we started testing the last weekend of August. During autumn testing we have discovered and fixed previously unknown problems, implemented and tested multiple new sensors and analyzed new data for further insight. In addition to the educational aspects of autumn testing, both new and old members have been able to see Nova in action. As a result, the team’s motivation is even
higher, and we can’t wait to get started designing next year’s car. All in all, fall testing has been a success thus far, and we still have more days of testing planned before the snow sets in. Hopefully, the remaining days will give us additional insight and the opportunity to validate more of our assumptions and simulations.
A NEW TEAM’S IN TOWN Text: Emma Stein Photo: Revolve NTNU
After a long and thorough admission process, we finally have the 72 members that will make up team 2021! This year’s team is made up of members from over 15 different academic fields, across all five years. Just a week after receiving the news of their admission, our new members were thrown into the world of Revolve with an intense two week bootcamp. Here they got to know the Revolve basics by attending lectures, workshops and lots of team-building activities. Because of Covid-19, our usual mid-bootcamp cabin trip had to be cancelled this year, and was instead replaced by a weekend full of fun activities in our own city, Trondheim. This turned out to be a huge success, with members getting to know each other across the different groups.
As soon as the bootcamp ended, the members started working on their presentations for the annual concept review which was held the next weekend. Here each group presented their new concepts and received feedback from alumni and team members. After three weeks filled with new knowledge and inspiration, the 2021 team is now looking forward to a project year full of new challenges, learning and fun!
OUR ACTIVITY-FILLED SOCIAL WEEKEND